Gender in the Song of the Lioness Series
by TheBratMan
Summary: This essay will look at how gender is dealt with in the Song of the Lioness Series. Wrote this essay for my pop culture course.


Novels have been an arena where hegemonic ideas are challenged by subordinated ideas. Some of the hegemonic ideas that have been challenged are the ones that concern matters such as gender. Traditional hegemonic way of thinking has attempted to create an image that gender is binary and someone is either male or female, and that no one can cross between the two genders (Demetriou, 2001). However, certain text rebel against this idea, allowing people to cross between the two genders, such as intersex and androgynous people (Monro, 2005). One of these texts is The Song of the Lioness series, by the author Tamora Pierce, in which the main character, Alanna, who has to overcome genders challenges; such as dealing with her femininity while still performing masculine task, having her peers accept her as being masculine, Alanna becoming the gazer instead of being the gaze, and her challenging the hegemonic masculine system. This essay will look at these elements and how they deal with gender within The Song of the Lioness series.

The Song of the Lioness series is about a girl who disguises herself as a boy so that she can train to become a knight, even though females are not allowed to become knights due to a hegemonic system ruled by men (Pierce, 1983). Throughout the first two books she struggles to gain knighthood, and when she finally does, it is revealed that she is in fact a woman (Pierce, 1984). After the truth is revealed, she proves to everyone that she is worthy of being a knight by performing quests and proving her masculinity (Pierce, 1988).

When dealing with a text, especially when gender is heavily involved, it is important to have the ability to determine which position the text is. There are three positions a text might take, which are dominant hegemonic, negotiated and resistance. Dominant hegemonic is a text in which its message is decoded "full and straight" (Hall, 1999, p. 515) and is based on hegemonic ideas. This position supports hegemonic practices and does not question it. A negotiated text is based in a hegemonic context but allows there to be a certain amount of non-hegemonic ideas, which are then regarded as expectations to hegemonic rule. A resistance text is where the message challenges the hegemonic ideals and supports alternative viewpoints (Hall, 1999). The Song of the Lioness series is therefore a resistance text because it has a main character, Alanna, who is a female knight that opposes the tradition that knighthood could only be awarded to those that are male.

An important factor of Alanna`s character is her gender and whether she is male or female. According to most western hegemonic way of thinking, there are only two genders, male and female, and that there is no other genders available (Demetriou, 2001; Monro, 2005). However, in more modern times, this was of thinking has been challenged by alternative ideas that allow there to be other genders; such as intersex, androgynous and gender fluidity. For starters, Alanna is never described as being intersex, as intersex involves a person having bodily characteristics that are associated with both sexes (Monro, 2005). Through the series, Alanna`s sex is women, even though she disguises herself as male throughout the first two books (Pierce, 1983; 1984). Alanna could be seen as being androgynous, where a person is born as being either male or female, but sees themselves as being neither male nor female (Monro, 2005). However, Alanna still knowledge that she is female even though she is disguised as a male (Pierce, 1983). Alanna could also be seen as having gender fluidity, where a person can see themselves as being male one moment and the next female (Monro, 2005). Throughout the series, Alanna is seen performing masculine task such as horse riding and sword fighting, with people describing her with this description: "She rides as a man, goes unveiled as a man, fights as a man" (Pierce, 1986, p. 8). However, she is also seen wearing a dress, given to her by her friend`s mother, something that can be seen as being more of a feminine task (Pierce, 1984). Therefore, it shows that Alanna can go between being masculine and feminine, a characteristic of gender fluidity.

One of the challenges that Alanna faced was the ability to be accepted by her peers, the other pages and squires. This was done by Alanna proving to her peers that she had reached manhood. Because gender is not judged by sex but by someone`s action, Alanna had to perform action associated with masculinity as a way to prove her masculinity (Demetriou, 2001). A cultural expectation of being masculine is by taking part in competitions where two sides face each other and that the one with the greater strength and skill wins. Those that have the overall strength and skill to win are seen as the ideal form of masculinity and proof that men are superior to women (Connell, 1995). In the first book, Alanna is bullied by a squire named Ralon of Malven, which gave Alanna a perfect opportunity to prove her masculinity and therefore be accepted by the other pages and squires (Pierce, 1983). Relationships with masculinity consist of those that are dominant and those that are subordinated, who are subordinated because they challenge those that are in a superior position (Coles, 2008). Because Ralon of Malven was in a position of dominance by having higher status and that he was subordinating Alanna by bullying her, she had to challenge his superiority and this was done through competition via violence (Pierce, 1983). The hegemonic characteristics of being masculine is to show superiority through being violence (Demetriou, 2001) and being independence, in contrast to women, who are seen being dependent on men (Kraak, 1999). Therefore, for Alanna to prove her masculinity she had to fight her own battle against Ralon of Malven. Although Alanna was trained in fist fighting by the king of thieves, George, she was able to use this knowledge to take on Ralon of Malven and defeat him without anyone else coming to her aid. The day before Alanna faced Ralon of Malven, George offers her a drink of ale and says "Are you waitin` till you`re a man grown before you give Malven what`s comin` to him?" (Pierce, 1983, p. 74). Because alcohol is seen as masculine drink (Kraak, 1999), the ale symbolises that Alanna has reached manhood, therefore ready to take on Ralon of Malven and be able to gain acceptance from the other pages and squires (Pierce, 1983). Therefore Alanna was able challenge the hegemonic ideas that females are week and dependent on men by standing up against Ralon of Malven without the aid of another man.

Traditional dominant hegemonic romance novels follow a format in which someone is the gazer and another person is the gaze. Although The Song of the Lioness series follows this format to begin with, because Alanna had to prove that she is independent, she rebels against the traditional format of romance. Traditional romances that exist in fiction tend to show the women as the gaze, and that the men are the gazers, meaning that it is the men that are meant to chase the woman and not the other way around (Strinati, 2004). Therefore, a message that is told to girls within a work of fiction is that they have to put themselves in position to attract men by making themselves look "smart, resourceful and popular" (Christian-Smith, 1993, p. 5). At first, Alanna is chased by the prince, Jonathan, who is seen as the gaze. But because Alanna feared that by marrying Prince Jonathan she would become his trophy wife (Pierce, 1986), in rebellion she chases a Shang warrior, Liam Ironarm, who she eventually has a romantic relationship with (Pierce, 1988). Instead of the traditional format that the man is the gazer and the woman is the gaze, this is swapped around in The Song of the Lioness series, where Alanna is the gazer, and Liam Ironarm is the gaze, resisting the traditional romance story by putting herself in the dominant position.

Another issue that The Song of the Lioness series handles is issue of the women`s workforce and where they are placed in the world. At the beginning of the series, Alanna swaps places with her twin brother, so that she can train to become a knight. Set in a time when women were expected to be elegant ladies, by training as a knight Alanna rebels against the hegemonic system that put men in a dominant position (Pierce, 1983). On average, males and females work for the same amount of time, even though females spend two hours per day working unpaid (Ongley, 2001). Furthermore, when women work in a paid jobs, they tended to be paid less than their male counterpart ("More evidence shows…", 2007, February 14). The hegemonic message telling young girls to become male dependent, baby caring wives can be seen throughout many teenage romance novels. Within a teenage romance novels there are two themes. The first theme creates an idea that a women`s place in the world is in the home and that men are in a dominant position. This can be seen through the idea that women are objects that should put themselves in a position to be desired by men. The second theme is that women must be subordinated so the capitalist patriarchal system can be preserved (Christian-Smith, 1993). The main purpose for hegemonic masculinity is so that it can subordinate women (Demetriou, 2001). There are four groups within the masculine model. The hegemonic masculinity is what society sees as the ideal male form, and the complicit group are males that do not achieve the ideal masculinity but still supports the masculine model by performing a certain amount of masculine task, such as watching a sports game, so that they can be rewarded by the system. The subordinated group are males that do not conform to hegemonic way of subordinating women, such as homosexuals and trans-genders, and the marginalised group are males of a different race (Connell, 1995; Demetriou, 2001). The reason for a hegemonic masculine system and subordinating women is so that the capitalist patriarchal can be maintained so that males are in position of power and not women (Connell, 1995). If a female such as Alanna can achieve hegemonic masculinity through attaining an important position in society, such as becoming a knight, it makes the hegemonic system of masculinity, the system that is meant to subordinate people, obsolete.

In conclusion, The Song of the Lioness deals with gender in many ways. Alanna is seen having gender fluidity, allowing her to be masculine one moment, and be feminine the next. By standing up for herself against the bully Ralon of Malven by herself, she proves her masculinity, allowing herself to be accepted by her male peers. By Alanna chasing Liam instead of him chasing her, she swaps position of subordinated to being in the dominant position. And by performing heroic masculine tasks, Alanna achieves hegemonic masculine, therefore making a system that is meant to subordinate women obsolete. Because The Song of the Lioness series goes against the dominant hegemony, the series becomes a resistance text. And because of this, the series explores the complexities concerning gender, something that the dominant hegemonic texts refuse to do.

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